Oleg Vasiliev. Biography
Oleg Vasiliev was born on November 22, 1959. Parents: Lyudmila Konstantinovna and Kim Mikhailovich. In November 1964, when Oleg was five years old, his mother brought him to the subscription figure skating group of the S.M. Kirov. Oleg Vasiliev began to practice on open ice, on the banks of the river. Exactly three years later, also in November, together with other young figure skaters of the DSO Trud, Oleg gave flowers to the participants of the parade and demonstration performances at the opening of the Yubileiny Sports Palace. In the same sports complex, Valova and Vasiliev subsequently trained under the guidance of Tamara Moskvina.
As a single skater Oleg Vasilyev has achieved some success. He won the championship and the USSR Cup among juniors. But then he became interested in pair skating. When T. Moskvina, on the advice of I. Moskvina, invited him to try himself in this sport, he agreed. E.Valova became his partner.
So in 1978 the couple Elena Valova - Oleg Vasilyev was formed. They were 15 and 18 years old. Their only coach throughout their amateur and professional careers was Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina.
This couple has achieved tremendous success. Valova-Vasiliev: Olympic champions in 1984 in pair skating, silver medalists of the 1988 Olympic Games, 3-time world champions (1983, 1985, 1988) and Europe (1984-1986), as well as multiple champions of the USSR.
Immediately after the end of his professional career, Oleg Vasilyev went into business. Then he decided to take up coaching. One of Vasiliev's first students was the Lithuanian couple Elena Sirokhvatova and Oleg Shlyakhov. How the coach brought up and continues to bring up new champions.
From 1984 to 1992, Vasiliev was married to Elena Valova. In his second marriage, he has a daughter, Catherine. Currently divorced.
In December 1997 he moved to the USA, to Chicago, where he worked with Totmyanina and Marinin. After 2006, Oleg Vasiliev returned to St. Petersburg, and after 2010 he again left for the USA.
Photo by Oleg Vasiliev
A well-known Russian coach commented specifically for SE on the results of the Moscow stage of the Grand Prix and explained why he has not been working with high-level skaters for two years
A well-known Russian coach commented specifically for SE on the results of the Moscow stage of the Grand Prix and explained why he has not been working with high-level skaters for two years
Vasiliev went into the shadows almost immediately after the duet of his students, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, broke up. At that time, it was still unbelievable that this departure would last for a long time. Still, among the wards of Vasilyev were the Olympic champions of Turin Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin, and specialists with such experience are piece goods. However, the coach did not appear at the competition for almost two years. And so he came to Moscow for the Grand Prix stage - to take an Italian couple on the ice, who had recently started skating.
We met on the podium immediately after the end of the sports couples tournament, in which the Russians Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Maxaim Trankov won.
- Oleg, what fate? In figure skating, they are tired of guessing: where did Vasiliev disappear to?
I'm still in Chicago. Didn't work at all last year. I took care of my daughter: she graduated from school, it was necessary to decide on further studies or work. I've been training quite a bit this year. Mostly small children. The Italians, with whom I came to Moscow, appeared at the end of last summer - they agreed to work for several weeks. The fact that they were on the list of participants in the "Grand Prix" is pure coincidence. Someone withdrew due to an injury, someone got sick, so we were invited.
THE ESSENCE OF JUDGING REMAINS THE SAME AS WITH 6.0 SCORE
- But have you at least been following pair skating for the last two years?
Hardly ever. More precisely, I follow certain names, results, novelties, but, of course, I don’t watch all the competitions in a row.
- Why? Not interested?
And what could be interesting here if people without two jumps, two throws and with poor support score 130 points, showing the best result of the season? Agree, there is something wrong with this. I understand the spectators who began to leave the stands after the advent of the new refereeing system. They just stopped understanding figure skating.
- You used to be a member of the technical committee of pair skating of the International Skating Union ...
I haven't been there in a year and a half. In 2008, it was decided that the technical committee could not have two representatives of the same country. Since, in addition to me, a very respected specialist Alexander Lakernik was a member of the committee from Russia, the question of which of us should leave was not even raised.
- Before leaving the technical committee, did you try to say that pair skating is going "to the wrong steppe"?
And I don't think it's going anywhere. The question is different. The fact that refereeing is inadequate for skating. They are trying to fight this, specialists are constantly being trained, analyzing certain situations, and quite tough, but ...
At one time, the previous system with a score of 6.0 was criticized for the fact that there is no specificity in it, and judges are guided not by criteria, but by sensations. Now there are criteria, but the essence of refereeing has remained the same. This also applies to the second assessment for the components, and a rather biased approach to the first, technical one. If Patrick Chan wins with a colossal amount in Canada with three falls, why can't a Russian athlete get the same points in a failed performance in Russia?
The human factor in figure skating judging has always been, is and will be. You just can't cross a certain reasonable line.
I agree. When I saw the sky-high scores of Volosozhar and Trankov for the free program on the scoreboard, I felt embarrassed.
Me too.
WHEN THE BODY BREAKS TO PIECES
When you stopped working with the Mukhortova/Trankov couple, to be honest, I didn’t doubt for a minute that you would soon have new high-level students. Why didn't this happen?
To be honest, I'm just tired. Tired of fighting for the result, tired of fighting with "heavy" athletes, but for me they were all like that. It's no secret that sometimes I took those with whom other coaches simply did not want to deal. After working for the Russian Figure Skating Federation for ten years and not even hearing a simple human “thank you” at the end, I realized that I didn’t want to continue all this. It was embarrassing enough. So I left. Consciously.
- And no one tried to return you?
When potential students called me, I answered everyone that I was on a short vacation. I can’t say that the phone rang around the clock, but there were such calls.
Was there any nostalgia?
Absolutely. At that time, it was difficult for me not only psychologically, but also physiologically. I felt my whole body begin to fall apart. Psychology and physiology are generally very closely related. When there is a strong and prolonged stress, the body cannot but respond to it. Accordingly, I had to think not about figure skating, but about how to bring myself back to normal.
NOT FROM ANY RAW MATERIAL YOU CAN MAKE A "CANDY"
- From what you saw in pair skating this season, can you tell what you like and who is interesting?
I like the Volosozhar/Trankov couple. I see great potential in them. I don't like Alena Savchenko and Robin Shelkov. I found absolutely nothing new in their programs. All this is a repetition of the past, and not the best repetition. There are interesting Canadian couples, but they are not yet ready to fight with the leaders, there are Americans who do quite difficult programs, but they don’t have an outstanding quality of skating and it won’t appear in a year. I also like Yuko with Sasha (Kawaguchi / Smirnov. - Note. E.V.), especially their free skate this season. I don't like Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov. This is not about what they do, but about the external state of the couple. As a professional trainer, I can clearly see that a partner weighing 33 kilos simply cannot cope with the tasks that she should cope with. She generally looks like a not very healthy person on the ice, and this is wrong. You can not put the result above health. There is also Stolbova and Klimov. If they find ways to realize their potential, they can be counted on in the next four years after the Sochi Games. This can be a very technically strong and interesting couple. But not today.
The Chinese are left. In general, I have nothing to say about Qin Pang and Jiang Tong, except that it’s hard to skate in your thirties, especially when you yourself don’t want to. And they obviously continue to act not entirely of their own free will. Hao Zhang and his new partner have an interesting quadruple twist of the third level. However, we passed this stage - tall, powerful boys and tiny girls - more than twenty years ago.
- Not very optimistic.
You see, pair skating is a rather difficult sport. It is almost impossible to lure athletes there. We get people who, for some reason, were not useful in single skating, and it is very difficult to make a “candy” out of such material. As Alexey Nikolaevich Mishin likes to say, only not very good goods can be made from not very good raw materials. Raising a high class couple is equally difficult in all countries. It is always hard work and difficult work in a team.
- But such work nevertheless goes on in several countries at once.
I agree. And I hope to see its fruits. Unless, of course, the promised end of the world happens in mid-December.
IS A RETURN POSSIBLE?
Do you agree that one of the most powerful and creative coaches in the world is still Tamara Moskvina, who almost thirty years ago made you and Lena Valova Olympic champions?
Partly agree. Take the same Yuko with Sasha. They have a very interesting free program in terms of staging. I see that both the guys and the coaches have done a tremendous job. It remains only to achieve a stable performance of technical elements.
You said that you see high potential in the Volosozhar/Trankov pair. And when Maxim left you two years ago, did you understand his decision?
The fact that Maxim does not have a relationship with Masha Mukhortova was clear to me even before I started training them. Therefore, his departure was completely justified: if Maxim wanted to achieve something in sports, he had to look for a partner with whom he would be more psychologically compatible. So the decision to leave was absolutely correct. Another question is how everything was done. In my opinion, it turned out not very nice.
Now, when you are watching Trankov from the side, don't you think that some problems have remained unresolved?
Good question. But can I leave it without comment?
- Then answer honestly to another: do you admit that you will return to work in the Russian team again?
Theoretically yes. But this can only happen if certain people leave figure skating forever.
Elena VAITSEHOVSKAYA
Russian figure skater, 1984 Olympic champion.
Oleg Vasiliev. Biography
Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev- Champion of the Soviet Union (1986). Three times he became the champion of Europe (1984, 1985, 1986) and the world (1983, 1985, 1988). Performed in tandem with Elena Gross. In 1983 he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Honored Coach of Russia.
In November 1964, when Oleg was five years old, his mother brought him to the subscription figure skating group of the S.M. Kirov. He began to practice on open ice, on the banks of the river. Three years later, together with other young figure skaters of the DSO Trud, Oleg gave flowers to the participants in the parade and demonstration performances at the opening of the Yubileiny Sports Palace. In the same sports complex, Valova and Vasiliev subsequently trained under the guidance of Tamara Moskvina.
Oleg Vasiliev: “Don’t just think that our family was captured by the“ sports fever ”of those years ... Everything was much simpler. I grew up weak and sickly. Doctors recommended fresh air, walks, active exercises. So I got on my skates ... The recipe turned out to be very good. My health got stronger, I no longer parted with sports ... "
As a single skater, Oleg has achieved some success. He won the championship and the USSR Cup among juniors. In 1978, a couple formed Elena Valova - Oleg Vasiliev. They were 15 and 18 years old. Their only coach throughout their amateur and professional careers was Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina. The path to the success of the Valova-Vasilyev couple was not easy. The first year was not spent on fighting opponents on the ice, but with injuries. Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev took to the ice in 1979.
After the end of his professional career, Oleg Vasilyev was engaged in business, and then in coaching. One of the first students of Vasilyev was a Lithuanian couple Elena Sirokhvatova and Oleg Shlyakhov. In 2001, Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin moved to Vasiliev. Coach Oleg Vasiliev changed the couple's style and invited a choreographer Giuseppe Arena. It was with Vasiliev that the couple achieved great success: they became Olympic champions in 2006, two-time world champions and five-time European champions. Also from 2002 to 2003 he trained Victoria Volchkova.
The merits of Valovaya and Vasiliev became more obvious every month. They already had their “own” audience, who especially appreciated the fact that young skaters tried to perform even the obligatory elements in their own way, linking them into spectacular, sometimes completely unexpected combinations. It took another year to enter the top three winners of the All-Union Championship. In 1982, at the Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, Elena and Oleg won silver medals for the first time.
Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev became the first sports couple to perform a triple parallel jump. In addition, they became the first of the Soviet figure skaters who went professional.
The most successful duo coached by Oleg Vasiliev were Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Maxaim Trankov, who became the champions of Russia in 2007 and repeated winners of the European European Championships. A couple of Mukhortov and Maxaim Trankov broke up after the 2010 World Cup. After that, Oleg Vasilyev was mainly engaged in training children.
Oleg Vasiliev: “I work very calmly, without hassle, on a daily basis. I train children - from 8 to 15 years old, who are very fond of figure skating, and their parents support them in this. And to be honest, this situation suits me very much. Their competitions are held in summer and autumn, in October and November everything will end, and I will again begin a more or less calm life, simple training. In this mode, I can do my personal life - that is, what I could not do for the last 10-12 years.
Until 2014, he trained a couple in St. Petersburg Katharina Gerboldt and Alexander Enbert, as well as the Italian couple Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise. After the Olympics, the Italian couple switched to other coaches, but continued to consult with Vasiliev.
Oleg Vasiliev. Show Ice Age
The feeling of participating in the project, as the figure skater Vasiliev, who had not skated in pairs by this point more than 20 years ago, was very interesting. Oleg Kimovich asked himself the question whether he could cope with the task.
Oleg Vasiliev: The Ice Age show for me is a kind of experiment on myself. As long as he is successful. I did not expect Dasha to be so efficient. She has already done a tremendous job to move, I'm not afraid to say this word, like a skater. My partner is the best. She understands everything, she can do anything. It remains only to combine with my current capabilities. I think that we will be far from the worst, maybe even the best.
Daria Moroz, in turn, noted that she was lucky with her partner, because he is a very comfortable, pleasant, intelligent and gallant person.
Daria: I don't know if I'll skate like a skater, but I'll try. I just got used to it: if you do something, then do it well. This is my life motto.
Oleg Vasiliev. Personal life
Oleg Vasiliev was married to his ice partner from 1984 to 1992 Elena Gross. In his second marriage, his daughter Catherine was born.
At the end of 1997, Vasiliev moved to Chicago, where he coached Totmyanina and Marinin. After 2006 he returned to St. Petersburg, and after 2010 he again left for the USA.
Oleg Vasiliev's wife, Valentina, lives in St. Petersburg, because, according to Vasiliev, she does not want to move to America. In addition, Valentina has her own business in St. Petersburg.
Oleg Vasiliev: “About 5-7 times a year I fly from America to Russia to see my family. Of course, I lose money on this, but I don’t want to lose relations with my wife and daughter. Why didn't he stay in St. Petersburg? No one will offer me such conditions at home as in Chicago.
Oleg Vasiliev - Olympic champion in 1984 and silver medalist of the 1988 Games in pair skating in a duet with Elena Valova. The coach who made Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin Olympic champions. And an interlocutor who can be listened to endlessly. In the Olympic project of the agency "R-Sport" - a frank story of the athlete and coach to the special correspondent of "R-Sport" Andrey Simonenko about what it is like to become an Olympic champion and raise Olympic champions.
Oleg Kimovich, when did you first consciously start thinking about the Olympics and did you dream of becoming an Olympic champion?
Never dreamed. Here Tatyana Totmyanina trained with me - she had such a dream from the age of five. There is even a recording of how she, a very small girl, stands on a chair and says: I am an Olympic champion. And I didn't have that. I started figure skating, like most people, only because I was not a very healthy child. I had pneumonia three times a year, and doctors recommended active outdoor activities for prevention. Figure skating in those days was only outdoors - so I started doing it. I enjoyed it - but nothing more. And even when I began to achieve some results as a junior, before the Olympics it was like walking from America to Moscow. I did not even think, did not dream and did not look in that direction. He performed at the junior level - and okay. Then, I didn't want to skate in pairs at all. Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina invited me three times and received a negative response. And only a chance for the fourth time brought her and me together. She correctly put the question - and I could not find an opportunity to refuse.
- That's right - how is it?
It was blackmail. Soft, cultured, but blackmail. And I had no choice but to say - well, I'll try. Tried. The experience with the first partner was not entirely successful, since Larisa Selezneva, with whom I skated for three months, and Oleg Vasilyev did not at all match either in character, or in emotional, or in any other positions. We swore at every training session to the point of hoarseness in the throat - it’s good that we didn’t fight. And three months later, Tamara Nikolaevna simply divorced us. Then, when I started skating with Lena Valova, there was no Olympics in my head either. There was work - on the one hand, very interesting, on the other - physically difficult. When I came to pair skating, I weighed 72 kilograms with my 180 centimeters height. And it was difficult for me to lift my partner - 36-38 kilograms. And in order to pump up, I had to do a lot of physical work. And there was an institute. The Olympics were not. And for the first time she appeared in my head, probably in 1983. We won silver at our debut European Championship in Dortmund, and I realized that we are competitive, that we can fight for medals not only at the USSR and European championships, but also at the world. In March of the same year, my idea was confirmed - we won the World Championship in Helsinki, and then I realized that we had a direct road to the Olympics. To the medal. And not just for a medal, but for a gold medal. But it still wasn't a dream. It was a well-defined and marked road from March 1983 to February 1984. We understood perfectly well what we need to do, how we need to work and what we cannot do in order to be where we can and should be. And the very dream of an Olympic medal appeared and stayed in my head for exactly a month and a half. From the end of January 1983 to mid-March 1983 - in the period from the European Championship to the World Championship. Everything else was clear work.
Many athletes, it seems to me, are afraid of the Olympic dream. She starts putting pressure on them. And she, it turns out, didn’t have time to scare you this month. Came, saw, conquered?
Essentially, yes. Lena and I had a very fast takeoff. Until the end of 1982, we did not think about any championships. Yes, we rode, fought - but we were from St. Petersburg, not from Moscow, for that period of time it was a big minus. Although now, probably, too ... There were enough Moscow couples ahead of us, who were stronger both in skating and in terms of political support. Yes, we did our job, but for the time being it was not very productive. And then it turned out like this - we missed the 1983 Russian Championship because of my broken jaw and got to the European Championship due to the political, so to speak, gestures of our beloved coach Tamara Nikolaevna. And now, from the European Championship, the road to the Olympics was already short. The only difficulty was to resist the temptations that were very attractive in the Soviet Union just before the Olympics. When a leader of any level with a potential owner of Olympic gold wanted to make friends, fraternize, sit and chat. This was very difficult to avoid. But Tamara Nikolaevna, with her experience, was able to protect us from this, and we calmly, quietly and systematically prepared for our first Olympics.
The 1980 Olympic champion in ice dancing Gennady Karponosov said that on the decisive day of the competition before the free dance, he saw the position in the medal standings on the screen, realized that the team victory depended on his performance with Natalia Linichuk - and at that moment he began to beat. Did you have something similar?
It wasn't exactly. Firstly, pair skating takes place at the very beginning of the Olympics. This is the first kind of competition. We did not depend on anyone and there was no pressure on us. We just had to roll. But 1984 was the year when the collapse of the Soviet Union began. The leaders of the CPSU and the country then died in turn, and just one of them died during the Olympic Games. So we weren't allowed to laugh, we weren't allowed to walk around in smart clothes, and so on and so forth. A global ban on any entertainment. And personally, I have a negative feeling from that Olympics due to the fact that, having skated cleanly both short and free programs, we could not express our positive emotions. It was forbidden.
- That is, during the rentals, it was still necessary to keep this ban in mind?
Yes. We had to think not only about how to ride, but also about how to behave. But looking back, I can assume that this helped us. There was no super-hype. This protected us from everything and allowed us to delve into the process of training and performances.
- Can you remember what you thought about when you went out on the ice?
I can remember. In the short program, we had a mandatory jump - a double loop. When I came to pairs, I did the triple without thinking - but the double caused problems. It turned out either single - then double, then single - then double. The number of "butterflies" often exceeded the number of normal jumps. Therefore, I had only one task in front of me - to concentrate and make a double loop. Everything else for me was not so difficult and important to remember and think about it. So, going into the short program, I only thought about what I need to do to cleanly execute this jump. When I did it, the rest went smoothly, easily and quietly. When we entered the free program, being the leaders after the short one, I didn’t worry at all. I only remember that when we finished the program, I only thought about not making any stupid mistake. Do not stumble, do not make a mistake in a light element. Finish the program as well as we started it. What Lena and I did - we skated both programs well and cleanly, did not cause any trouble to either the judges or our coach.
How to evaluate the fact that at that time it was possible to win the World Championship from the sheet, but now it is not. Was figure skating fairer?
I don't think it was easier then to win off the sheet than it is now. Imagine: when you hold something for a long time under pressure, and then let it go - with what energy this something will break out ... So we were kept under the pressure of internal political games in figure skating for a long time, and when we released, we turned out to be so technically and artistically better than our competitors, that it was hard for the judges not to notice. At our first European Championship in Dortmund, by the way, we were given very different marks. Someone gave 5.3-5.4, and someone - 5.7-5.8. That is, some judges thought very conservatively - they gave us marks as debutants, while others saw something new in our skating for that period of time and appreciated us. So it wasn’t easier for us: it’s just that the conditions in which we were conserved inside the country allowed us to grow into a good couple.
- By the way, a little later, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov also "shot" ...
Yes. Competition within the country was much stronger than outside. We must also remember that at the 1981 World Championships, where Vorobyeva and Lisovsky won gold, there were only about a dozen pairs. That is, Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina, with all my deepest respect for her, killed pair skating in the ten years when she was in the lead and won everything in it. In other countries, the federations understood that it was pointless to develop pair skating, Rodnina would still have the first place. Therefore, sports couples began to die out as a class. When we entered the world stage in 1983, there were not yet a large number of couples that could be interesting or strong. And the same was true for Gordeeva and Grinkov. It is now that many countries exhibit strong pairs - Canada, the USA, Germany, China ... Strong pairs appear in Italy, in France. And then there were one or two strong couples from East Germany and one each from America and Canada. These were all of our competitors.
A banal question, but nevertheless, everyone and everyone asks it - what has changed in your life when you returned home with Olympic gold?
Never mind. Received $500 from the state for first place at the Olympics. Nobody gave us cars, apartments, or crazy money. We were faced with a choice - to work until the next Olympics or finish and look for work by profession or by vocation. We were young and decided to ride. But nothing has changed in our lives. True, we were recognized on the streets and in shops, which, under Soviet reality and the philosophy of "you to me, I to you," worked a little in our favor. It was easier to buy good meat in the store or get or help get something that was not on the counter. But we have not received any other privileges.
- So, you performed for another four years. How did you come to the idea of ending your career?
By the next Olympics, we have matured, and the country has changed so much that it became possible to travel and officially work abroad. And earn currency, not just rubles. By the way, Lena and I were the first athletes who, without losing their citizenship, signed a contract with a foreign company. Before us, only Belousova and Protopopov did this, but they left the country. And we first worked for Igor Bobrin for about a year in his team, and then we signed a contract to work in America in 1989 with the permission of the sports committee. The understanding that something needs to be changed in life came even before the 1988 Olympics. When we realized that Gordeeva and Grinkov are serious competitors who beat us from time to time, we decided that it was time for us to start doing something else. Do not skate until retirement and fight for second or tenth places. And we decided a year before the Calgary Olympics that we would leave after it.
- Around the same time, the first hockey players began to leave the country for the NHL - Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov ...
Fetisov, Larionov, Makarov - these are the athletes who were at the 1988 Olympics. And we got on very well with them. Discussed what to do with the future. We understood that it was no longer possible to live and work the way we did. The world was changing very quickly, the money that our friends from America and Canada earned was much more than what was offered to us. We loved our country and did not want to leave it. The contract was signed first. Then Larionov, Fetisov did it - they signed contracts for ridiculous money. Even juniors get now, I think, more. But you had to start somewhere. For us, performing in the show was something new, and we understood that we were paving the way for other skaters. Although we were clearly underestimated financially, the work was very interesting to us.
- Did you ever imagine yourself as a coach in those years?
Just like I didn't want to go into pair skating, I never wanted to be a coach. Because I saw that this work is very difficult, nervous and rather ungrateful. We stopped skating as an amateur, went pro, skated in shows from 1988 to 1995. Then Lena had a child, and we missed a year. But I pulled her back to the ice in 1996, and we played until 1997 ... And all these years I did not want to work as a coach. Didn't want to at all. During that break - I mean 1995-96 - my friends and I were engaged in various types of business. Starting from the sale of bananas, which we transported from Finland, adjacent to the Leningrad region, to the sale of luxury cars. We did everything to earn money, we earned it - but it did not bring any satisfaction. And I realized that this is not something that I would be interested in doing in the future. And then there was an offer to train a couple in Latvia. And I decided to try. But the couple was not easy - it was Oleg Shlyakhov with a new partner. And this was literally a year after Shlyakhov accidentally stuck his horse in the head of Lena Berezhnaya. When I received this offer from the Latvian federation, I called Tamara Nikolaevna to ask her opinion on this issue, since she trained Berezhnaya and Shlyakhova. I also called Alexander Vasilyevich Matveev, who worked with them as a choreographer. Both, without saying a word, answered: Oleg, if you want to go to jail or have big problems in life, go to work. And so we don't recommend it. The fact was that Shlyakhov was, according to the diagnosis repeatedly made by various doctors, not a completely mentally healthy person. Although he was a normal guy in life, I liked him, but he had a non-standard psychological component - he was a sick person at that time. Today it is regulated, but in those days there were some pills, vitamins that alleviate this disease, but they did not cure it. After Tamara Nikolaevna informed me about this, I thought for about a day - and called the Latvian federation to give my consent. Why did I do it? Because I decided: if I can cope with a not quite mentally healthy athlete and do what the federation asks me to do - bring them to the World Championships and make sure that they take a certain place there, then I can work as a coach with any other couple . It was an experiment for me, a test - I can handle it or not. I did it. I didn’t have a single incident in training, not only did he never raise his hand to his partner, there wasn’t a single situation from the category of those that could lead to something deplorable. The guys went to the World Championships, took the place that the federation asked of them, everyone was happy and satisfied - but I, despite the request of the federation and athletes to continue cooperation, refused. I decided that at the time that I devoted to them and checked myself, our experiment was over, said "thank you very much" and left. I returned to Russia, realized that I could coach, but did not see any interesting work that could captivate me. And then I looked towards France. You understand, Paris… I approached the head of the French federation and asked if you would be interested in me working with your couples in the upcoming season? They said yes it will. And I worked for about two years near Paris with French pairs, as well as with singles. This was a very interesting job, and perhaps I would still be doing it if the French federation had not found itself in a very difficult financial situation. Money - five million dollars - disappeared from her accounts. It happened over the weekend, and on Monday people came to work and found no money in their accounts. An investigation began, the accounts were frozen, and the payment of salaries, respectively, was stopped. When I had not received a single franc for two or three months, I decided that doing charity work in Paris was a rather expensive pleasure. Lena and I teamed up again, started skating, started getting good money again - then, if you remember, the situation "Nancy Kerrigan - Tonya Harding" greatly fueled interest in figure skating, and the shows gathered full halls around the world. Only the lazy did not earn then. But Lena was one of those people who do not like money - and in December 1997 she told me that she had made a joint decision with her husband to stop skating and devote herself to the family. Naturally, I could not object. Three days later I ended up in Chicago - and on December 20, 1997, my American life began. Chicago has become my second home. And I must say that despite the fact that from 2000 to 2010 I worked for the Russian Figure Skating Federation, I always felt more comfortable and convenient in Chicago.
In the early years of your coaching, what was more improvisation or what you learned from your mentors?
When I worked with Shlyakhov, there was no time to improvise or take someone else's experience. Every day was like a minefield. Any mistake, any wrong word, averted gaze could be very costly. I had no time to remember what Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina or Igor Borisovich Moskvin taught me. Pure specifics: two athletes with a difficult situation and a coach. Hard work for six months one on one, no one else was on the ice. And she taught me a lot. Not someone who worked next to me, but the work itself. Taught control, search for non-standard methods to move forward. These six months have given me a lot. The work in France was interesting, but… You see, this is France, no one strains in life there. Everything was calm, beautiful, dinner on the Champs Elysees. I'm telling the truth - I would still work there, if not for the sad situation with finances. It was a very good, positive time in my life, when I enjoyed Paris, simple work with athletes, with whom, by the way, I am still friends, but it hardly taught me anything. But working in Chicago taught me financial discipline and self-discipline - that is, the ability to work with an athlete for a fixed time, giving him 100 percent attention. For the first three months in Chicago, I worked seven days a week, and my first lesson started at 5:45 in the morning. I started working with a group of children who were 12-16 years old. Level from "novice" to junior. I had to get up at 4.15, I left the house at 4.45. Three months later, the stress resulted in a disease that in America is called shingles. The point is that the virus that causes chickenpox in childhood then “sleeps” in our body, but at some point it can attack a nerve and cause skin rashes and very sharp itching. It happened on my face. I didn’t know what it was, I come to the hospital, the temperature is high, I can’t do anything - and they calmly say to me: oh, you have shingles. The same intonation that would have said: ah, you have a runny nose. After all the tests, they put him in the ward, kept him under a dropper for 24 hours - everything is fine, there is nothing. Doctors, by the way, still do not know the mechanism of this disease, but it is known for sure that it is caused by stress. Every day to get up at 4 in the morning - despite the fact that no one canceled the evening life. Restaurants, meetings… So I slept for three hours maximum, worked in a language that I did not fully understand - only a set of working phrases - and it was very difficult. But those three months gave me a lot. Then in normal work there was nothing complicated for me. To get up at 4.30, go out on the ice, see some shortcomings and make comments - it was not so difficult. But I must say that these three months have taken something from me. I was then married for the second time, my wife did not like America, and I did not have a job in Russia. We flew to each other for meetings on the weekend in Paris. She is from St. Petersburg, I am from Chicago. On Friday we fly out, on Saturday-Sunday together, then back to work. This is also stress. Tickets were not crazy money, once every two weeks you could afford it, but such a life was a soft start to our expense. Which ended in the early 2000s with our official divorce and the fact that the child stayed with his mother, and I was alone in America. So, finally answering the question of who I studied with, I can say this - life taught me. Of course, I use some techniques of Tamara Nikolaevna, some techniques of Igor Borisovich, from whom I learned to jump triple jumps. Exercises, small secrets I took from there. But this is probably 30 percent of my coaching baggage - and I learned everything else from my own experience.
- When did you have real coaching ambitions?
When I decided to work with Totmyanina and Marinin. Before that, there was work with children, getting money, paying bills - that's all.
- It got boring?
No. I just wanted to prove to myself that I can do it. That I can bring people to the bar where I was. I set the task - we must be the first. It was difficult, despite the fact that the athletes were talented and interesting, like people - although not easy. But I talked to them, realized that we were looking in the same direction - and decided to go. I had no idea how difficult this path would be. It was insanely difficult. But very interesting.
- What moments were the most difficult - maybe even those when you wanted to quit everything?
I didn't have those moments. My athletes wanted to quit everything - yes. There was a moment when Max Marinin was about to fly back to Russia, and I had to talk to him for a long time in order to leave him to work in Chicago. As for me ... Every day was difficult, because I had to constantly step over myself, I don’t want to and I can’t - and force athletes to step over myself. Moreover, we skated alone, we did not have a sparring partnership, and this is the same as improving yourself while sitting in a solitary confinement. It's hard for anyone. And I did it for the first time, I walked almost blindly, I remembered how Lena and I went this way, how we climbed there, what Tamara Nikolaevna did with us. What was good, what mistakes she made ... I used all this in my work with Totmyanina and Marinin. But, once again, I don't want to say that it was only hard. It was also interesting.
- Is it a completely different job, not like what was in Latvia or France?
Absolutely different. Another level of stress, other tasks, sometimes after a working day I just could not fall asleep - everything was spinning in my head. At the same time, no one canceled work with children - I had to pay bills, and I did not receive a salary for the first year and a half with Totmyanina and Marinin. Worked on a voluntary basis. I settled the athletes in families, I didn’t have to pay for housing for some time, although it was inconvenient for them to go to the skating rink, far away. But I had to pay for transport - a car in my name, gasoline. No one gave ice skating rink for free. Food - Athletes need to eat well to skate well. I worked from 6 am to 8 pm. First with the children, then from 8 to 10.30 - with Tanya and Max, then again the children. Lunch break from 12.30 to one, then until two in the afternoon again Tanya and Max. At two, the children came after school, with whom I worked until the evening. And I have had such a marathon every day for all these years. In general, I must say that nothing in my life was easy for me - except for the period in France. Each step was against the movement, against the wind. This was hard.
I remember the moment when Totmianina and Marinin stopped making mistakes at all and reached some kind of cosmic level. Everyone understood that they were the favorites of the Olympics. Didn't it get easier then?
No. At first it was difficult to bring them to this level. By the way, when they came to me, they were far from downstairs. I took them from sixth place at the World Championships. But every move up one step at this level is insanely hard. And when you already climb there, you understand that you can’t stop - and it becomes even more difficult. You have to go somewhere, but where? For a young coach, if not by age, then by experience, for athletes who have never been at this level, it is very difficult to find the right direction of movement and take one more step. It was difficult to find the right people - those who are 100 percent devoted to their work. And now, if you look at Russian specialists, you can count on the fingers of one hand those who treat their work professionally and with love.
- When you arrived at the Olympics in Turin, did you compare your condition with what you experienced as an athlete?
Certainly. When I was an athlete, everything was easy. Because you go out and know what you can and what you can't. Before the start of the performance, you hear the last word of the coach, which brings you into working condition - and forward. And here you are on the other side of the board - and this last word must be found. It is very difficult. Totmyanina admitted to me after the Olympics that it was exactly what I said that allowed them to skate perfectly clean. Because the training before the free program was very hard. Tanya fell four times - she hasn't fallen so much in the whole season. And I had to find the right words - not after a workout, but after a six-minute warm-up before starting the program. If you find them, everything works out. If not, then you are, so to speak, not a very good coach.
- What exactly did they say - a secret?
I told them what Totmyanina and Marinin needed to hear at that moment. The fact is that I could say one thing to Totmianina, another to Maria Mukhortova, a third to Victoria Volchkova, and I didn’t say anything at all to Fumi Suguri, because at that moment she was communicating with space, and she didn’t need words. When you work with an athlete, you begin to understand what words someone needs and how they can work. So the longer you work with an athlete, the better you can use the power of words at that climax.
- How many percent does the result depend on these few words?
50/50 exactly. Athletes are far from stupid people, as they are often presented. They know their capabilities, their body. The problem is that stress, adrenaline, knock them off the mood. And the athlete himself cannot return to understanding the situation. But he is at this level - like a good car. Any movement of a cog can lead to colossal changes. Why couldn't Max Kovtun do what he had to do at the World Championships? Obviously not because Lena Vodorezova or Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova do not know what to say. Simply because he is not yet a machine. And "Zaporozhets", with whom you still have to work and work. That is, we first make a good car, ready to go to the record - and then with the last movement, gesture, word, slap - one by one - we make the last setting that will allow the super car to provide maximum speed.
Why didn't it work out with Volchkova? Your cooperation began phenomenally: she won the Grand Prix stage for the first time in her life.
That season was generally the best in her career - except for the fact that she fell ill with pneumonia and missed the Russian championship. And against the background of this disease, she performed poorly at the European Championships. And at the World Championships under my leadership, she had the best result for all the time of her skating - and the best skating. The only really won stage of the Grand Prix. It was the result of the work we did. Why couldn't we continue to work together? For reasons that had nothing to do with me or our work together. Not because our work did not work out or, as was often written, because I was a tyrant and brought it to such a state. She found herself a young man in Chicago and successfully married. Then Volchkova, in the off-season, when she was leaving, came to me in tears. Because I understood that the work that we did brought results. I suggested that she find some options - so that, for example, she would spend part of her time in Russia, and part in Chicago. No, she said: I have to leave. It's a pity, because its potential was far from being exhausted. I have a video of her doing a triple split flip at the start of her jump. More than ten meters in length span. There was huge potential.
- You also worked with Fumi Suguri...
It was more difficult for her. Japanese thinking is very different from ours. But even despite this, progress at some point was. I believe that work in any case brings results.
- After Totmyanina and Marinin became Olympic champions, did you find yourself at a crossroads?
I was quite tired, it was hard for me. And when Valentin Nikolaevich Piseev came up to me in Turin and asked what I was going to do, I answered - I want to rest. And then I will recruit a group of young athletes and see what happens. It was interesting to me, because I never worked with young skaters at that time. Either completely children - or tops. And these were juniors who could grow up. But I ran into Russian reality. Our juniors turned out to be so unmanageable and disorganized that after six months I disbanded the entire group. And he said to himself: stop. I left for St. Petersburg, went about my business, and then, when I was already on my way to the airport with the intention of returning to Chicago, the same Piseev called me. "Oleg, we have a difficult situation with Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, I would very much like you to take them and put them in order." What the situation was, I, of course, knew well. Answered - Valentin Nikolaevich, I have a plane to Chicago in an hour and a half. I'll think about it and call you within three days. I thought about whether I should return with difficult athletes to where I had recently been - or say: no, thanks, and continue to work with American children and earn for my pension fund. For three days I was torn apart by doubts, but then the adrenaline needle overpowered me and I answered: I'll try. Four days later he returned back to St. Petersburg, sat down in a cafe on Sadovaya with Mukhortova and Trankov and began to talk. I listened to what they wanted, told them how I see our work - and we started. The first year was very successful. Then personal difficulties began - between Trankov and me. It's personal. As an athlete, he has so much talent that even row with a shovel. As a person, he is complex. There was strong opposition from him, but I decided that since I took on this project, I should bring it to the end. There were still difficulties with the leadership of the federation. When I took a couple, help was promised - but there was none. Moreover, when I made a normal couple out of Mukhortova and Trankov with good elements and more or less stable skating, they were always ranked lower than their competitors. And it was the work of the federation, which made a bet on other athletes who were not better than Mukhortova and Maxaim Trankov. When athletes skate programs cleanly, and competitors with mistakes and put them higher, this does not improve the mood. It was especially offensive in the Olympic season, when Mukhortova and Maxaim Trankov skated very well at the European Championships, but they were rudely trampled underfoot.
Was Maxim's fall at the Olympics an accident?
I am sure that this was the result of incorrect refereeing at the European Championships. Both of them were simply killed that they were removed both at the Russian Championship and at the European Championship, although they skated well. Athletes stop believing in justice, in themselves. This disbelief, plus not the best contact between the coach and the athlete, the stress at the Olympics should have resulted in something. It resulted in the failure of the jump, which he had never failed.
- Could something be done differently in working with Mukhortova and Trankov?
I think yes. I'm not a perfect person, I make mistakes too. But understand: I do not work alone. Trankov was in contact with my choreographer, with people involved in physical training, sponsors. At first, everyone treated him positively and kindly. Then a little wary. And it ended up that everyone, without exception, who worked in my team, did not want to be with him. So much negativity came from him at everyone that no one could stand it. As far as my choreographer, Matveev, is positive in life - but he could not work with him at all. Max is a difficult person. He can get into the soul so deeply and imperceptibly that you think - this is your best friend. And then it exploded inside and turned you into who knows what. I just never let anyone get into my soul. That's why I was able to survive it. But others couldn't.
- If you had returned to 2006 by the time Piseev offered to work with them, what would you have done differently?
I just wouldn't take them.
- The cycle of work with Masha and Maxim took away more nerve cells from you than the cycle with Totmianina and Marinin?
More. In the three years of working with Mukhortova and Trankov, I spent twice as much energy and strength as in the six years of working with Totmianina and Marinin. Then he began to work with Mukhortova and Blanchard, it went well, but the boy could not stand it. And I went on vacation, because I myself began to "fall apart". My back started to hurt, my knees, a lot of things. I went to be treated, to put my body in order. I spent two years on this.
- The last question is - do you want to go to Sochi?
And I will go there anyway. My Italians (Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise, who are trained by Vasiliev - author's note) have already got there. This, of course, is a "tourist" trip - the struggle for 10-12th places. But I'm already off the adrenaline needle. For two years I put myself in order - and I feel very comfortable.
P.S. This conversation took place in March 2013. And in May, Oleg Vasiliev returned to St. Petersburg and began working with a couple Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert. To be continued?
Oleg Vasiliev, the coach of the champions of Turin-2006 in pair skating and the Olympic champion himself, told RG about how the medals are obtained.
Oleg Kimovich, what if we plunge into a distant history? In 1964, Lyudmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov won the Olympics, and since then in pair skating until 2010, before the ill-fated Vancouver, we did not lose in this form.
Oleg Vasiliev: Summed up not only the ill-fated Vancouver, there are gold medals shared with the Canadians in Salt Lake City-2002.
Well, I think the judges got us pinned down.
Oleg Vasiliev: They gave me a reason. Positions could not be given up. And then maybe Vancouver would be different.
Now the couple Tatyana Volosozhar - Maxim Maxaim Trankov have good prospects for Sochi. What needs to be done to make everything go as planned?
Oleg Vasiliev: We have talents. In principle, the generation of coaching staff has changed, but good mentors have already appeared. The question is one: to bring it all together, to do all the work that all our previous generations of coaches and athletes have successfully done. So work, work and work. And in this case there will be a result. We have couples. And not only one, as some believe. Those behind them are also growing, who will have to reveal themselves in the new Olympic four-year period.
Is this Vera Bazarova - Yuri Larionov?
Oleg Vasiliev: They are not the next generation, they already had the Olympics. This is the working generation, the workhorses to work now.
I have a special fondness for this couple. When Yura was disqualified, Vera patiently waited for him. Although applicants for such a partner turned out to be more than enough.
Oleg Vasiliev: In our environment, in pair skating, there are many such cases. The same Enbert waited for Herboldt for a year and a half while she healed the injury. The concept comes: your partner is what is destined for you by fate. And, of course, you will help and do everything to wait.
And how do relationships develop if a partner falls? At the Russian championship, we saw how Evgenia Tarasova fell from the support and how her partner Vladimir Morozov experienced. Fortunately, it worked out. But there are concussions, fractures.
Oleg Vasiliev: When he had already lifted Zhenya, it was clear that he was holding with difficulty, it was hard for him, although the boy was strong. In general, in 99 cases out of a hundred, the fall is the fault of the partner. It is you who carry it, it is you who stand with your feet on the ice, and you are responsible for standing. You are responsible for the successful execution of the element and, most importantly, for the partner. When you fall, the pain is for her, and your feelings are strong, it is important to psychologically endure here, to show confidence so that everything goes well further.
We digress, and, in my opinion, not without benefit. But who are you enrolling in the next generation?
Oleg Vasiliev: I enroll - too strong a word. But in my understanding, the future is Stolbova - Klimov, who won the national championship in Sochi, young Tarasova - Morozov, Enbert and Gerboldt ...
Your pair is still far from the winners.
Oleg Vasiliev: Far from ideal. Till. But we will work and, perhaps, in the next Olympic four years we will get a completely different result. To do this, Katarina needs to overcome certain psychological problems.
And who will catch up with or surpass your Olympic champions Totmyanina - Marinina in terms of class? I do not mean Volosozhar - Trankov.
Oleg Vasiliev: Surpass? Probably not. I repeat, Stolbova - Klimov will be a good support for the national team. Whether they will become the first couple in Europe and the world, time will tell. After the Olympics, everyone will skate as if from scratch, with new programs. And only in the next season we will understand who is who. There are a lot of pairs, but pair skating is also a matter of survival, a technically difficult sport, where there are many injuries. There are skaters who simply break down in the process of preparation, do not reach the championship - neither you the world, nor Europe. Today, almost all figure skating, not only pair skating, is on the verge of human capabilities. Predicting is very difficult.
Several very young duets also performed at the Sochi championship. How do you like them?
Oleg Vasiliev: Today's juniors, especially lads, successfully transition to adult status very rarely. Often because of the "decoration" of girls. As long as they are girls - small and smart - you can do anything with them. The most difficult lifts, multi-turn twists, throws - all this is performed easily and freely. But then growth starts up and in breadth, and problems arise in everything. The most difficult moment of transition from one age to another.
And where is Valova now?
Oleg Vasiliev: In the States.
You also went there several times, it seems that you firmly settled there with your figure skating school, but each time you returned.
Oleg Vasiliev: Mostly based in Chicago. But I trained ours, and often in my St. Petersburg, sometimes I call it Leningrad. The last year and a half - back in Chicago, working with young skaters. I had a period of rehabilitation.
Your Maxaim Trankov and Mukhortova broke up without achieving everything that, it seems to me, they were capable of. It was hard for you.
Oleg Vasiliev: It's hard enough. Athletes were mixed. After spending a year and a half in a relatively calm environment, I regained my strength, I felt: I can return, start anew. And I closed my school in Chicago. There is a personal reason. Married.
Again?
Oleg Vasiliev: Again. On a Muscovite. That's why I left Chicago. The wife is not from figure skating, although she knows and loves this sport.
And thank God. Why the extra burden. Oleg, I remember how you literally fashioned an Olympic champion out of Tanya Totmyanina. A wonderful athlete, but she couldn’t smile, she was completely stiff. And you put her in the US at first behind the wheel of a car, helped to overcome shyness. Totmyanina spoke in English, her smile is wonderful, she is a great companion. And everything in life worked out - the "gold" of the Olympics, the happy wife of Lesha Yagudin and a young mother. And you can’t, I think, not say this, that assault on the Olympic podium ended in a divorce. How hard it all is, how difficult it is, and what a huge price to pay for Olympic success.
Oleg Vasiliev: And today - happy changes in my personal life. The wife moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg this year. At 54, he should become a dad again.
Until then, congratulations. But how do you see the Olympic Sochi today?
Oleg Vasiliev: In pairs there is a good chance for "gold". And in team competitions, we can and should too. Canada and Russia will compete for "gold", and the United States is not far from us.
